# Do you know someone who has died of the flu? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855 "2020-03-03T11:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/21 "2020-03-04T04:43:24Z")
A coworker’s sister. In her late 30s or early 40s. Otherwise in good health. I think it was during the H1N1 season. She was sick for a week or so, getting worse, and wouldn’t go to the doctor. Her mom eventually called an ambulance, but by then she was in organ failure. It was a huge shock to my coworker and family. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/22 "2020-03-04T05:49:05Z")
I’ve known hundreds of people in my life with whom I’ve had no contact in years and have no idea whether they’re even alive, much less what they might’ve died from. But of the people with whom I’ve been personally acquainted, about whose death I have at least some information, none seems to have died from the flu. That I can think of, anyway. I’m sure as soon as the edit window times out I’ll say to myself, _wait a minute_… ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/23 "2020-03-04T05:53:09Z")
A number of people, all of whom had exising conditions, died from pneumonia which was a consequence of the flu. One was a woman in her 40s who had won her battle with breast cancer and had no reserves left to fight. Another was a woman in her 80s who had had surgery recently and got infected with the flu, which then turned into penumonia. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/24 "2020-03-04T06:00:58Z")
My sister died from H1N1 six years ago. She was 50. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/25 "2020-03-04T07:35:04Z")
A friend died in 2000 from the flu. She was 55. She may have had some other preexisting condition–she was kind of a hypochondriac but some of it could be real. A teacher at one of my kids’ schools also died of some complications after getting the flu. This was in the mid-1990s, not sure what the complications were or if there was a preexisting condition. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/26 "2020-03-04T10:36:48Z")
An elderly person I knew died of pneumonia that was probably brought on by the flu ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/27 "2020-03-04T13:36:27Z")
Not any more, no. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855/28 "2020-03-04T13:56:21Z")
My first cousin died a couple of years ago at 53. She was an otherwise very healthy woman. She caught the flu and it rapidly got worse. Within a couple of days she collapsed and died of sepsis brought on by the flu. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-someone-who-has-died-of-the-flu/848855.md?page=1)